Languages & Linguistics
Multiword Stage
The multiword stage refers to a developmental phase in language acquisition during which children begin to produce longer, more complex utterances consisting of multiple words. This stage typically occurs after the initial single-word stage and is characterized by the use of two-word combinations and eventually more sophisticated multiword expressions. It reflects the progression of language development in young children.
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eBook - PDFEducational Psychology N5 SB
TVET FIRST
- M Adam(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Macmillan(Publisher)
• Begins to say single-word utterances to express complex ideas. • Produces simple utterances to express complex ideas. • Non-grammatical, forms the foundation of a child’s vocabulary. • Used in conjunction with body language, context and tone of voice. • The child moves to the next stage once he or she can speak in successive one-word sentences. Advice for parents during this stage: • Engage in constant conversation with the child. • Reciprocate responses from the child positively. • Avoid using baby language, e.g. “woof-woof” for “dog”. • “Food” may mean ‘Give me food”. • “Up” may mean “Pick me up”. • “Play” may mean “I want to play now”. Telegraphic (two-word) stage 18–24 months • The child uses simple two-word sentences. • Sentences have a predicate and a subject. • General language, syntax and word learning occurs. Advice for parents during this stage: • Repeat what the child says in a complete, grammatically correct sentence. • Use short, simple phrases to help the child learn proper grammar. • Use sentences that you would use with an adult. • “Doggie walk” may mean “The dog is being walked”. • “Daddy shoe” may mean “Daddy’s shoe”. • “Baby shoe” may mean “My shoe”. • “Mummy eat” may mean “Did mummy eat?” • “Baby sleeping” may mean “Baby is sleeping”. holophrastic: expressing a whole phrase or thought in a single word telegraphic: very concise, leaving out any words that are not essential; in this context, using short, two-word phrases 66 Name of stage Age of child Description Examples Multi-word stage 24–36 months • Sentences become longer and more complex. • Characterised by more complex sentence structure. • Sentences include plurals and past tenses. • Children leave out “unnecessary” words like conjunctions and prepositions. • Self-centred and used mainly to express children’s own needs and desires. Advice for parents during this stage: • Talk and listen to the child. • Sing songs together. • Answer questions in fluent sentences.
eBook - PDFIntroducing Linguistics
Theoretical and Applied Approaches
- Joyce Bruhn de Garavito, John W. Schwieter(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
12.5.1 The One-word Stage When you think about it, we see the development of L1 syntax when children use a single word in cases where adults would say several words. We call this the one-word stage. These single words are called holophrases. For example, at around 12 to 18 months, a child may say, juice to make a request for more juice to be served. Perhaps this is not surprising because they do not yet know the syntax to construct the full sentence I want juice let alone Can I have some juice? Other holophrase examples include: Daddy for I want daddy; Up for Pick me up; and Gone for The cereal is gone. Research has shown, however, that children do not choose which word to be the holophrase randomly. The word is the most meaningful word in the adult equivalent. 12.5.2 The Two-word Stage A few months after speaking in one-word utterances, by around 24 months of age, chil- dren enter a two-word stage. Some of the first two-word utterances may in fact be two holophrases from the one-word stage such as juice gone. Soon after this, though, they will begin to create other two-word utterances that are syntactically ordered correctly, meaningful, and context-appropriate. Examples of utterances in the two-word stage can be seen in Table 12.11. The table also shows that we can characterize the examples by several relational meanings. Relational meaning refers to the semantic relationship between the referents of the two words in question. Roger Brown (1973) showed that children use eight different rela- tional meanings in the two-word stage. TABLE 12.11 Examples of Two-word Utterances Child utterance Intended meaning Relational meaning Daddy shirt Daddy is putting on a shirt. agent + action bounce ball I bounced the ball. action + theme doggy water The doggy has water. agent + theme Mommy bed Mommy is on the bed. agent + location 435 12.5 Syntactic Development 12.5.3 The Telegraphic Stage You may have been expecting a three-word stage to come next.
- Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Hugh J. Silverman(Authors)
- 1979(Publication Date)
- Northwestern University Press(Publisher)
In this case, as in other less clear-cut situations, we are talking about a true organization of imitated models and never of pure and simple reception and reproduction. (We will examine this problem of imitation further.) B. After Three Years Can we distinguish other stages that follow? This seems difficult to do. Stern has distinguished the passing from word to sentence. However, this is not a very well-defined stage, since the first words always have a sentence value, even though the strict distinction is debatable. Other people distinguish different stages according to the growth of vocabulary and take stock of the child's linguistic knowledge at different ages. There have been a number of studies 20 / CONSCIOUSNESS AND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION of this nature with disconcerting and always disappointing re- sults. Mme Descoeudres evaluated the vocabulary of children at about three and a half years and on this basis established tests to avoid the necessity of repeating the evaluation each time. 17 The results are varied. (Stern found 300 words at two years; Deville, 688; Major, 142.) What is the reason for this diversity of results? I. There is a lack of an exact definition of what must count as a word. (Do two suffixes for one root count as two words, or one word? The same for flectional endings, etc.) 2. The working vocabulary of an adult, as well as a child, is muoh more limited than the vocabulary he understands or which he would know how to use if he really felt the necessity. (Vendryes has said that this virtual vocabulary is impossible to inventory.) 18 One ,cannot consider linguistic equipment as a summation of words. Rather, we must appeal to systems of varia- tion that render an open series of words possible. This cannot be explored further here. It is a totality of open sectors with infinite possibilities of expression.
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